Former Agawam Rep. Michael P. Walsh said recently that the Commonwealth may have missed the shuttle bus on casinos.

"It may have been our opportunity to jump in four or five years ago, and that opportunity may have passed," Walsh said on WGBY's "Connecting Point."

Walsh left the state Legislature in 1995 after 12 years in the House to lobby for casinos on behalf of the Wampanoag Indian Tribe. He told host Jim Madigan that he expects casino gambling to come to pass in Massachusetts - most likely with Senate President Therese Murray, who has not come out with a clear take on the issue, brokering the compromise between Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

Patrick and DeLeo have been at odds over gambling in the Commonwealth since the summer, when Patrick vetoed an expanded gambling bill on the grounds that it allowed for too many slot parlors at racetracks - a measure he said amounted to a "no-bid contract."

The Republican | John SuchockiMohegan Sun executives, left to right, Paul I. Brody, Mitchell G. Etess and Charles F. Bunnell, discuss plans for a Palmer casino on Wednesday during a meeting with The Republican's Editorial Board.

Walsh said that if expanded gambling can do anything to jump-start the state's economy, it would likely be in the form of a single casino.

"I really worry that more than one casino in this state is going to oversaturate," he said. "I think there's room for one, maybe two, but that's going to be awfully hard to sustain."

He also said it would have to be a resort casino, like the one proposed in Palmer. But The Republican reported Wednesday that the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has scaled back its plans for a Palmer facility:

But plans for that $600-million casino have shrunken over the past four years from 3,000 slot machines proposed four years ago to 2,500 slot machines in the plans today and from a 4,000- to 5,000-seat theater to a 1,000- to 1,500-square-foot multi-use ballroom, said Paul I. Brody, vice president of Mohegan Gaming Advisors.

“This isn’t a build-it-and-they-will-come business model anymore,” Brody said during a meeting Wednesday with The Republican’s editorial board. “It is a very tightly-margined business, and you have to watch how much you spend.”

Walsh said that after having worked on issues involving expanded gambling in the Commonwealth as a legislator and a lobbyist, he could see the merit in arguments for and against the proposed legislation:

If you take a look at those who are in favor of gambling, I think it will create jobs - in the short term, and to a certain extent in the long term. I think it will generate some revenue, and I also think it will keep in-state some of the revenue that's being exported primarily down to Connecticut. Having said that, I also do think that the opponents are correct, too. Will it increase compulsive gambling? Yes. Will it cannibalize the nearby economy? Probably. So I think all of those arguments, over the last 10 years, have been valid.